Yasuda Auditorium
This impressive building standing at the heart of the Hongo Campus was constructed in 1925 thanks to a donation from Zenjiro Yasuda, who was concerned about the absence of a building of sufficient grandeur to receive the Japanese emperor when visiting the university. The architect, Yoshikazu Uchida, was well known for his bold designs. For Yasuda Hall, he drew particular inspiration from the towered gates of Cambridge University. Yasuda Hall, with its large auditorium seating over 1000 people, came to symbolize the university as whole, just at the moment when it was emerging as a fully modern institution. The dark red tile exterior is a typical feature of the Japanese architecture of the 1920s shared with other neighboring buildings on the campus. The Yasuda business empire also provided funding for the restoration of the hall following the student disturbances of the 1960s.